The present invention relates to a memory product controller, a memory product control method and a memory product, capable of causing a plurality of memory products, such as IC tags, as a whole to function as a high-performance memory product by combining them.
With the recent diversification of memory means, not only simple memory products, but also many memory products having various functions by incorporating an IC chip into removable memory products, such as IC cards and IC tags, have been developed. The application range of such memory products is expanding to various applications.
Moreover, the mainstream of IC tags is non-contact type IC tags, such as RFID (Radio Frequency-Identification) tags, that can transmit and receive data by wireless communication to/from a reader/writer (antenna+controller) capable of reading/writing in a non-contact manner. Since the RFID can transmit and receive data by holding an IC tag over the reader/writer, the fields to which such IC tags are applicable are expanding.
However, an RFID tag has a physical limitation for multi-functionality since the RFID tag can not obtain a necessary amount of power to operate by itself when providing an RFID tag with various functions. It follows that all we ca do is to make the restricted multi-function RFID tag. Therefore, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-192539 and No. 2002-288598, for example, many techniques have been developed to realize a multi-function memory product by grouping a plurality of RFID tags and regarding one group as a single IC tag.